I have a couple of spinning projects I’m working on. I love to spin very fine yarns but that means a 2 ply yarn is lace weight. I have some Corriedale/Suri blends from Far Out Farm in Tennessee. I have 2 colors: 4 oz blue grey and 4 oz aqua. I spun them with the intention of plying the them together. But I thought a bit of shine might be nice. I had a hank of silk dyed by Dicentra Designs. She creates fabulous deep saturated colored rovings. I had selected a 4 oz hank that was dyed with rich greens, blues, and golds. I spun it as a cobweb weight yarn with the intention of plying it with cashmere I’m spinning on supported Russian spindles. And then I changed my mind and the ball of silk had been sitting.
The current plan is to spin all as singles. Then 1/4 will be spun as 2 ply aqua, 1/4 will be 2 ply blue grey, 1/4 will be 2 ply grey and aqua, and then the last 1/4 is 3 ply grey/aqua/silk. I can’t decide if I like the 3 ply or not. The silk is fine enough that the 3 ply is not any heaver than the 2 ply. I’ll keep spinning and plying and see how it looks when it’s done.
Ewephoric Fibers is teaming with Yarn Works to bring you a full schedule of classes. Visit Yarn Works’ website to register.
Note: A spinning wheel may be reserved for any class if the student notifies us ahead of time.
Spinning for a Project September 17 and October 1, 2015, 5 – 8 pm $75, materials included
So many of us spin yarn just to spin and then wonder what to make with the yarn. In this class, students will pick a small project (hat, scarf, or socks), an appropriate fiber, and begin spinning during the first class. There will be a discussion of what fibers and yarn weights are best for your chosen project, how to estimate how much fiber will be needed, and suggestions on how to keep consistent with spinning the yarn. This class will meet twice. During the first class you will pick your project, fiber and begin spinning your yarn. During the second class you will cast on for your project or, if you have already started knitting or crocheting, provide inspiration to your classmates.
You must have a wheel in good working condition and be able to spin a continuous yarn. A pattern and 6 oz of fiber will be provided by the instructor.
Beginning Spinning September 26, October 3 & 17, 1 – 4 pm $125, materials included, spindles and wheels provided
Learn to spin on a drop spindle and spinning wheel. This class will meet three times. During the first class students will learn to spin on a drop spindle, to name the parts of a spinning wheel and how they work, and will begin spinning on the wheel. During the next two classes, students will learn about different wools and other fibers, roving, top, and other wool preparations and will continue to hone their spinning skills. By the end of the class, students will be able to spin a continuous thread.
Spindles and wheels available to take home for a $100 refundable deposit. Grease fleece and 4 oz of roving will be provided by the instructor.
Fabulous Luxury Fibers November 8, 2015, 1 – 4 pm $75, materials included
Let me introduce you to some of the most luxurious fibers in the world! We will spin cashmere, yak, silk, angora, baby camel and blends of these exquisite fibers. Before the spinning starts, there will be a discussion of the qualities of each and how best to spin them into amazing yarns to use to highlight very special projects. You will learn how to adjust your wheels and handle the fibers for a successful foray into the world of luxury yarns.
You must have a wheel in good working condition and be able to spin a continuous yarn. Luxury fiber will be provided by the instructor. Wine, mimosas, and cheese will be provided.
Ewephoric Fibers is teaming with Yarn Works to bring you a full schedule of classes. Visit Yarn Works’ website to register.
Note: A spinning wheel may be reserved if the student notifies us ahead of time.
Here is a list of our classes:
Spinning Beaded Yarn
August 2, 2014, 10:30 am – 3 pm
$50, materials included
Lots of us love knitting with beads. We can place the beads exactly where we want them. But if you don’t care where the beads end up, there are wonderful yarns with the beads already attached, if you are willing to pay the price! And what if you love the color of the beads or the yarn, but not both together or you want a specific yarn with beads but can’t find it. This class will teach you how to spin your own beaded yarn. We will explore two different methods for placing beads while spinning.
You must be able to spin a continuous thread and bring a spinning wheel in good working condition. Fiber, beads and written material will be provided by the instructor.
Spinning Silken Yarns August 11, 2014, 5 – 8 pm
$50, materials included
So many people are intimidated by the thought of spinning silk! It is such a fabulous fiber: shiny, soft, strong, drapey. It takes dyes with a brilliance and depth rarely seen in other fibers. And it is available in a variety of different preparations which completely change the appearance of the yarn. So why are spinners so afraid of it? This class will introduce you to the two most common preparations of silk: top and hankies. You will learn how to spin them with ease and confidence! We will start with the easiest to spin, tussah, progress through Bombyx top, and finish off with hankies.
You must be able to spin a continuous thread and bring a spinning wheel in good working condition. Fiber and written material will be provided by the instructor.
Cool Fibers for Hot Summer Spinning
August 18 & 25, 2014, 5 – 8 pm
$60, materials included
Summers in Florida are hot, hot, hot! Even with air conditioning it’s hard to escape the heat — and spinning wool can still be less than appealing. So let’s spin some fabulous non-wool fibers that are great for summer yarns! We will spin fibers that are often thought of as being hard to spin like bamboo or cotton or just old fashioned like flax. Learn to spin beautiful, cool summer yarns that you can use for knitting, crocheting, or weaving. Imagine wearing a hand spun, hand knit shirt for work or a light weight shawl perfect for those air conditioned restaurants and movie theaters. This class will explore fibers over two weeks. We will start with flax, bamboo, and black bamboo. The second class will cover tencel, hemp and cotton.
You must be able to spin a continuous thread and bring a spinning wheel in good working condition. Fiber and written material will be provided by the instructor.
Hi Folks: We are postponing the Peaceful Paths meetups until further notice. We will have them again, as well as classes and Ewephoric Trunk Sales, and we will post here several weeks in advance so you will be able to get them into your calendar. Cheers! Jane
Look at what I just got in the mail! Notice it came by courier into the USA before going into the mail? The wrapping is muslin cloth that has been sewn onto the box! How fun is that?!? My charka and punis came packaged like this. Makes you realize how inexpensive labor is in India.
These takhlis will be going into our cotton kits. These fabulous kits have a variety of different cottons and cotton preparations for you to try with your lovely takhli or spin on your wheel. You will get to experience cotton in several different ways so you can pick your favorite preparation. We have two cotton kits: Cotton Sampler ($25) with a variety of fiber preparations and the Cotton Roving Sampler ($30) which has a variety of different rovings for the spinner to sample. Add a takhli and spinning cup to either sampler for only $15.
The fiber shows start in September so we are busy dyeing fibers! Silk hankies are stacking up, waiting to be spun into fine threads and looking so luscious!
We are introducing a new-for-us fiber blend, 50/50 Superwash Merino/Tencel. We think you are going to absolutely love it! It is shiny, oh so soft, and so easy to spin! We are putting this up in 4oz hanks and it will sell for $18. Ginger spun some of this fiber into a lace weight yarn and has been knitting a Pi Shawl. The yarn’s shine and depth of color make it hard to photograph, but the colors are rich with and have a lovely depth from the combination of wool and Tencel. Ginger’s shawl will be wonderful once it has been blocked so the pattern shows. Stay tuned for the final picture!
Ewephoric Fibers is introducing our green cashmere for sale for the first time! This exquisite fiber was combed off goats living on the Patagonian Steppe. Ginger traveled to Argentina to work with the shepherds’ cooperative and to bring back cashmere. She purchased all the fiber the shepherds had — a very small amount! Be sure to read the previous post about these extraordinary people, their animals, and their lifestyle. This fiber is totally organic, renewable and has been purchased at a fair trade price. A percentage of the profit will go back to the cooperative to help the shepherds continue to improve their herds through replacement of livestock taken by predators, training and education. We think you will absolutely love the soft, buttery feel of this cashmere cloud and its amazing staple length which makes it a dream to spin! One ounce of beige or white Patagonian cashmere is $14 and the ultra-fine gray is $14.50. The quantities are very limited so don’t wait!
To purchase any of the above fibers, email ginger-at-ewephoricfibers-dot-com.
Join Ewephoric Fibers for an informative and fun-filled day of spinning. In the morning portion of the workshop, we will spin wild roving and batts. In the afternoon, we will work on plying to make the best possible yarns. While we are learning about wonderful fibers, we will also be helping a most worthy cause, Peaceful Paths. This non-profit group assists women moving out of abusive situations into a position of self-sufficiency and strength. Ten percent of every workshop fee will go to Peaceful Paths. Feel free to bring a non-perishable food donation for their food pantry. Details after the jump…
Ginger writes: Why do you spin? Why in this day and age of readily available, immediate gratification yarn stores and online shops would you want to spin individual strands of fibers into yarn?
Me? Why do I spin? There are reasons I can delineate and many others I simply cannot.
I spin to produce the specific yarn I want for a specific project. Sometimes I find a pattern that I particularly like and plan out the yarn I will use. I select the fleece, wash, dye, card, and then spin to the weight I want. I like to select the different fibers, blend them, and plan out the yarn in advance. Or I select the roving I like that is the appropriate fiber content for the project, sometimes already dyed, sometimes not. I figure how much I am going to need and while I am spinning the yarn I review the pattern to decide how much modification it needs. More often I write my own pattern. You cannot get this kind of start-to-finish satisfaction in store bought yarns. But this is not the primary reason I spin yarn.
Ginger and Bunny
I spin because I am very tactile. I love the feel of the fibers, especially very soft fleeces still warm from the sheep or alpaca they were just sheared off of. I love the sensation of warmth or coolness the fibers exhibit. I love the sweet hay smell and feel of lanolin from a clean, fresh sheep fleece. I am amazed as I watch the twist capture fragile individual fibers and make them into a strong, stable yarn. Fiber is a feast for all the senses, except perhaps taste!
I spin to connect with a distant past that is very hard to define. When I spin, I feel a connecting thread that stretches back through time and space to the first woman who figured it out. I feel as if I can close my eyes, open them, and be in some other time and place and I would not be surprised at all! As the fibers flow through my fingers, I experience an internal calm that is unique to this particular activity. Spinning feels as natural to me as walking. I am sometimes amazed that I have not done it my whole life, only the last 30 years! Spinning is my Zen. It quiets and calms my mind. The day’s tension drains away as I spin.
Many years ago I had Lyme Disease. During the course of the illness I became severely neurologically impaired. I could not walk without help, brush my hair, feed myself or do any of the many things we take for granted. I lost my long-term and photographic memory as well as my short-term memory and I was aphasic, the wrong words came out of my mouth. I could not remember how a sentence started so I could not carry on a conversation for many months. On the other hand, I could think and reason, I just could not say the correct words! I spent a year relearning basic skills and speech.
One of the first physical things I could do once I could get around on my own was spin. I still couldn’t carry on a conversation, could barely brush my hair or feed myself, but I could spin. How glorious that was! It was a huge part of my recovery. As I look back on it now, I realize that I had close to my 10,000 hours of ‘practice’ in spinning before I became ill. According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, you need to spend 10,000 hours of doing something before you can truly become an expert and really excel in that field. I don’t know that I excelled at spinning, in fact I feel like a merely competent spinner most of the time, but the physical and mental memory was present even if the rest of my brain had not caught up yet! So for a year I spun for the simple joy of spinning.
I spin to connect to the most basic part of my being, to be sure the that the connecting thread stretching back to my very origins is still intact. I allow the tactile part of spinning to take over and carry me through the most difficult parts of my life. It helps to keep me on an even keel. It is my lifeline.
Our Booth at the 2010 Gainesville Local Art Market
January 26 – 29, 2011.
Destin, here we come! We are teaming up with Hanks Yarn and Fiber (WEB, BLOG) and traveling to Destin, Florida, for the January Spin In (RAVELY, YAHOO GROUP). We’re packing the van full of fibery goodness on Wednesday morning and leaving bright and early. Shoot one of us an email at <www (at) ewephoricfibers (dot) com> if you are looking for something in particular, and, if we have it, we’ll bring it.)
Knit & Spin with the Experts
Sunday, August 8
10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
[WoodsEdge Wools Farm, 78 Bowne Station Road, Stockton, NJ]
Fellow fiber aficionados, come and share your love of textiles at the Knit & Spin with the Experts. Bring your current knitting, crocheting, felting or spinning project and learn tips from Ginger, Jane & Linda who have a combined textile background of over 100 years!! Ravelry fans and groups bring your lunch and stay for the day. Refreshments will be served. We’ll have lots of new yarns and spinning fibers to inspire you for the upcoming fall months! RSVP appreciated.
That’s right! Ginger and I are the “experts”, along with Linda Berry Walker, our wonderful host. We aren’t exactly sure what tips we will be sharing, so bring your questions and your projects and we will see you there.
